My title for this devotion is Loss in Death vs. Victory in Death.
Death has been called the Great Enemy. I have also heard it called the Great Equalizer. Many people are afraid of death. The sad part is many people who use the name “Christian” are also afraid. I have been at the bedside of people who are afraid to die and are unsure of their salvation and they need not have fear of death because of what Jesus has done.
Jesus conquered death, hell and the grave though His resurrection. So the Christ-follower (which I am one) has absolutely nothing to fear. Just yesterday (Tuesday), I went to the cemetery where my mother is buried. Following her death in 2004, she was cremated and I left PA to return home to Ohio. It is now 2019. 15 years later I went the gravesite where she and her godly parents were buried. I came away with a sense of relief knowing they weren’t there. Knowing I will see them again.
How different from the story I read today about Charles Bradlaugh, a belligerent British atheist was laid to rest in an empty funeral service. Writer Authur Porritt wrote:
No prayer was said at the grave. Indeed, not a single word was uttered. The remains, placed in a light coffin, were lowered into the earth in a quite unceremonious fashion as if carrion were being hustled out of sight…I came away heart-frozen. It only then dawned on me that loss of faith in the continuity of human personality after death gives death an appalling victory.
To the unbeliever death is a sting. To the Christ-follower death has lost its sting.
“Father, thank you for the victory over death. Thank you that death has no power to the one who follows You. Thank you that I have nothing to fear because of the victory of Christ over death.”
Bill, last week I went back to Long Island to bury a beloved, long-time friend. It was one of the most beautiful home-goings! As sad as we all were, we all shared funny and heart-felt stories at a restaurant afterward. One by one, we reminisced about his well-lived life. I presented the eulogy and it was such a fitting tribute. Although, he will be greatly missed by so many people, I will see him again. And that allows me to rejoice!
You are so right Diane. It allows us the opportunity to rejoice. How much better that is. Thanks for coming by.
Every time I visit my father’s grave in Oxford, I’m so relieved to know he’s not there, but in the arms of Jesus. What a sad commentary about the burial of the atheist . . .
For Christians, there is hope even in the face of death, for Jesus has overcome!
Blessings, Bill!
I now know that feeling Martha. Knowing death cannot hold them. You are so right. Death has been overcome! Thanks for commenting.
I’ve never visited my dad’s grave site since he was laid there. I know he’s not there.
But I know I’ll see him again… and sooner than all of us even realize…